The Azzurri baseball squad arrived safely at Phoenix International Airport without bench coachAugusto Medina and infielder Erick Epifano for 2019 Spring Training at the Oakland AthleticsArizona complex in nearby Mesa.
Team Italy manager Gilberto "Gibo" Gerali replaced Augusto Medina, who was stranded in Venezuela due to flight cancellations to and...

The Maggiore Group is bringing a little bit of la dolce vita to Phoenix with a new Italian bakery called The Sicilian Baker, opening at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 20. To celebrate on opening day, The Scilian Baker will offer a free classic-size cannoli to the first 100 customers who say "holy cannoli" at the counter. The business also will give out f...

Ever wanted to whip up Italian cocktails like a pro? Mora Italian (5651 North 7th Street, Phoenix, AZ) is offering the opportunity to pick up some skills at a cocktail class presented by Rich Heider from Southern Glazer and Campari, Saturday, March 16, 3–4:30pm.
The class will teach guests about the art of making Negroni Italian cocktails and an Ap...

With an Italian-born mother and American-born father, Nico Mannion is fluent in both English and Italian. But he's not sure if there’s a direct Italian translation for “Bear Down." "I don’t think there’s a translation,” he said. "I’ll get back to you on that one.”
Mannion, who just led Phoenix Pinnacle High School to its second straight 6A state ba...

Leave it to restaurateur Grant Krueger to use gunpowder and 16th century tax collectors as inspirations behind the name of his third eatery in St. Philip’s Plaza. This and other secrets were recently revealed to me at Proof Artisanal Pizza and Pasta, 4340 N. Campbell Avenue. Krueger stopped short of calling them secrets, but acknowledged that the s...

Fendi is expanding its Roman empire . . . to Scottsdale, Arizona. The luxury fashion house just announced that it is building a collection of 41 bespoke Fendi Private Residences that will be come to market later this year and be completed in 2020. Each home will average 3,500 square feet, with the design and architecture spearheaded by architect Ma...

Ciao from Rome to all the friends of We the Italians!
The new book by We the Italians, the Yearbook of 2018, has been released: you can find it here. In 2018 we interviewed 26 leaders, 26 friends who gave us 26 different views about 24 different topics of the relation between Italy and the US. History, education, Little Italy, sport, language, rese...

Since opening in 2016, Tratto, Chris Bianco's trattoria, has helped set the pace for Italian fare in Phoenix. But among the five-star restaurant's Arizona-flecked creations, one of the simplest — a classic pillar of Roman cuisine — has proven to be a popular favorite. This shouldn't come as a surprise. The cacio e pepe at Tratto is a killer dish.
C...

Lilly Smartelli dreams of marrying her best friend on Valentine’s Day. “Bernie and I have been looking for just the right wedding venue to stage our big Italian wedding,” said Ms. Smartelli, 55, who lives in Phoenix. Ms. Smartelli marks Feb. 14 on her calendar, not as a romantic holiday, but as a day defined by comfort, happiness and a different so...

Italian nylon fiber manufacturer Aquafil opened its first carpet recycling facility in the United States. The new 116,000 square feet building in Phoenix, Arizona, has the capacity to turn 36 million pounds of old carpets into raw material annually, the company says.
Aquafil manufactures a polymer called Nylon 6, and operates in two main product ar...